亚裔陷种族印象怪圈：拿不到A就是不及格

网易教育讯 据美国侨报网编译报道，亚裔成绩好、学历高在美国是出了名的，对于他们来说，拿不到A就是不及格。不可否认，很多亚裔确实非常优秀，模范族裔实至名归，但同时，一些较为普通的亚裔也因此背负了极大的压力。

据Pacific Standard报道，“我觉得很丢人，我的分数不是亚裔应得的分数，”一名亚裔学生在匿名信中写道。这句话放映出人们对亚裔的普遍看法，即如果你是亚裔，你就应该拿到高分。对亚裔而已，除A以外都是不及格。

这个观点突出了两个问题。第一，学业成绩被种族化了，亚裔成为了高分的典型代表；第二，人们对亚裔学习成绩的期待和看法要高于其他族裔。

亚裔并非一直都是高分的代表。不到一世纪以前，亚裔还被视为文盲、不受欢迎和无法同化的移民，是“不讲卫生和病怏怏的”典型代表。作为“边缘种族”，他们没有入籍的权利，也不能跨种族通婚，被隔离在拥挤的种族聚居地。

情况是如何发生转变的？答案就是1965年后的亚裔移民，带着技能和学历移民至美。据皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Center）数据，年龄在25岁至64岁的新一代亚裔移民中，61%的人拥有学士及以上学历，是美国平均水平的两倍多（28%）。

正因为亚裔父母的教育背景都很好，亚裔子女也被鞭策成为好学生，家教、课外班、夏令营一个都不能少。亚裔父母在教育上拼命投资是为了确保孩子能赢在起跑线上。

也正是因为血本投资，亚裔对下一代的学习成绩有了更高的期望值。再加上遗传因素，亚裔学生的成绩普遍较好，这样就促成了亚裔“拿不到A就是不及格”的怪圈。

“I feel ashamed of myself because my grade is not what an Asian should get,” reads aPostSecret confession. The quote reflects the popular perception among Asians and non-Asians alike that if you are Asian, you should receive a top grade; anything less than an A is an “Asian F.”

The idea highlights two points. First, academic achievement is racialized, with Asian Americans as the reference group for academic excellence. Second, the expectations and the perceived norm for achievement are higher for Asian Americans than for other groups.

The association between Asian Americans and achievement is relatively recent. Less than a century ago, Asians were described as illiterate, undesirable, and unassimilable immigrants, full of “filth and disease.” As “marginal members of the human race,” they were denied the right to naturalize, denied the right to intermarry, and were segregated in crowded ethnic enclaves.

So what changed? The answer: the skills and educational profiles of post-1965 Asian immigration. According to the Pew Research Center, among recent Asian immigrants between the ages of 25 and 64, 61 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree—more than double the U.S. average of 28 percent. This is salient because children of highly-educated, middle-class parents—regardless of race/ethnicity—have a competitive edge over their poor and working-class counterparts.

That a higher proportion of Asian immigrant parents hail from educated backgrounds explains, in part, why they insist on supplementing their children’s education with tutors, after-school classes, and summer school. Their investment in supplementary education helps to insure that their children will stay ahead of their peers. In addition, because tutoring services and supplementary education classes are available in Asian ethnic communities, poor and working-class Asians have access to them, which, in turn, helps them academically achieve, in spite of their disadvantaged class status.

That the status of racial/ethnic groups have changed (and may likely change again) underscores that there is nothing obvious or natural about the link between race/ethnicity and achievement. But, without understanding the high-selectivity of Asian immigrants and their means of supplementing their children’s education, one could make the specious argument that there must be something natural or essential about Asian Americans that result in high expectations and exceptional academic outcomes.